Wishes
by Reginald Kastle
Summary: Of all the people to remember, he didn't expect her to. Dangershipping. takes place around 112


He doesn't understand why she keeps coming.

Yeah, he tries to rationalize that Rio and Kotori are friends, and sure that gives her a right to see her while she's in hospital, but apart from her and himself, there's no one ever here. It's not that he doesn't understand why; there's been a lot going on with not just him, but everyone else as well and what kind of person does he think he is that everyone would simply drop everything to see her?

So, he's more surprised than anything whenever she appears with a new batch of flowers to replace the ones he simply lets wilt and die every couple of days. It's not his fault, he tries to remind himself. This isn't your fault.

It's obvious by the nurse's comments saying that he should get some rest, _go home, she'll still be here when you get back_ that the lack of sleep must be showing in his face. The bags under his eyes are heavy as he's forcedly reminded every time he spots himself in the reflection of the window, but is it even him that he sees?

He makes it a habit to not look at the window too often.

"Shark?" her voice breaks through the silence that is all too familiar to him now – it's been days since they came back; days since...

He refuses to believe Astral is dead; much as in he refuses to believe a lot of things about him recently. But one thing that is as persistent as his thoughts is her returning every so often, each time with flowers and words of comfort and perseverance that he never paid enough attention to.

He casts a disdained glance towards her, raising an eyebrow as he notices; this time there's a change. He doesn't like this change in routine; he's used to be able to just let her place her flowers then leave. That way, she leaves him to his agony in as little time as she can allow, but this time, she's not having it.

"What's that?" Ryouga asks before he can stop himself.

Kotori gives a small blush as she gestures to the small cupcake in her hands. "I-it's for you. Rio told me while we were travelling through the ruins. Happy birthday!"

His eyebrows furrow as confusion as surprise writes itself over his face. His eyes spot the calendar placed neatly on the wall next to Rio's bed, and it's only in that second that he realizes he's forgotten himself; it's their collective birthday today. He's been so caught up in the pain; the agony of almost losing his sister that he's forgotten the day that he's been looking forward to for a long time.

"...Birthday?" he repeats, tilting his head to the side in confusion, as if he's just a child and its some sort of alien phrase he's never heard before.

"Well, yeah." She shuffles, dropping the backpack from her shoulders and placing it on the ground next to his chair. She hands him the cupcake to which he takes in shaky hands, holding it in complete confusion. "I mean, I know it's probably not on the highest list of your priorities, but I thought, maybe it'd be nice to have something that's a little bit nicer than just sitting here all day. I brought some other stuff too."

She pulls a chair next to him, dropping into it with an encouraging smile written across her features. He darts his eyes in any direction that isn't hers, trying desperately to think of something – anything – to show his gratitude.

"Sheesh Shark, you smell like you haven't showered in a week." She murmurs as she waves her hand in front of her face mockingly. "And you look like you haven't slept in that long either." She reaches forward, tracing her thumb along the heavy bangs that adorn his eyes, pouting as she stared at him, concern contorting her features in a way that made him feel sick.

Silence falls upon the room as she strokes his eyes and he lets her do it – what's the point in even stopping her? He can't even concentrate on his own thoughts at any present moment, and he's silent but it's kind of comforting to him to have her at least there providing support. They remain that way for a while, until a small rumbling noise echoes through the room and Ryouga gives a small blush in reply.

"Seems like you haven't eaten in a while either." She mumbles with a sigh, pushing the cupcake further into his arms. "Please, at least eat if you won't sleep."

He stares at the cupcake for a long time – though it could only have been a matter of seconds, every second that Ryouga's sitting here feels like another hour. Eventually, he decides that yeah, he should at least eat something and Kotori is still staring at him, so he brings the cupcake to his mouth and takes a small bite, enough for him to wince and swallow. He's surprised; at any other time he would have been immensely grateful, even more so then he is at the present time, though he'd never say.

He swallows again, taking another bite and dropping the cupcake to his side. "Thanks, Kotori."

Kotori smiles, clasping his hand in hers as reassuringly as she can. "It's going to be okay, Shark. Everything will be, I'm sure." She grips his hand, turning and unzipping the backpack she brought with her.

"You can't be sure of that." Ryouga mutters to himself, picking at his fingernails. He grits his teeth angrily at the thought, because he knows what she's going to say; it will be, Astral will come back, Rio will wake up, just like she did last time! But she doesn't know, it's not the same anymore, who knows if Rio will come back? And if she does, what are they to do now?

It's not like Ryouga can exactly blame her for not knowing that. And at least she's trying. He's so unused to the prospect that someone apart from Rio actually cares about him, and it's all coming apart and before he realizes he's not crying, but sobbing; ugly, gross noises come from him and he slumps into his chair until Kotori takes him into her arms. He's never cried in front of anyone save Rio, but that doesn't seem to matter at the moment as the tears just roll from his eyes and stain her shirt. Why Rio? Why us? His sobs just echo and she says nothing, just sits and strokes at his hair until he's worn out.

It seems like hours but he finally calms down enough to realize _oh my god did I just do that_? Kotori says nothing though, giving a small smile of encouragement when he looks her way. He yawns, and maybe now finally the time has come and its okay, but he's so worn out there isn't much else he feels he can do. His head slumps against her shoulder, closing his eyes and hoping for sleep.

"It's okay, you can sleep. I'll stay here and watch Rio until you wake up." She purrs reassuringly as she pulls the blanket and pillow she managed to shove into the backpack before. She places the pillow behind his back and drapes the blanket around him as he murmurs a quiet 'thanks' in reply.

Small snores fill the room, giving Kotori a chance to finally slump into the seat as she prepared herself for sentry duty. She peers at the sleeping Rio, her eyes dancing with confusion as she stared at the taped over eyes. "You told me to look after Shark if something were to happen to you." She proclaims so Ryouga doesn't hear. "How, Rio? How did you know?"

She doesn't get an answer, but she continues with what she was asked to do. At first, she thought it would be fruitless as Ryouga was quite the hardass when he wanted to be, but when she walked in and saw him dishevelled and ... broken? It tore her to pieces. Whether she had made the promise or not, she was going to help him. "Happy birthday Shark. And Rio. I hope your dreams are giving you the solace you need, because they seem like the greatest gift you could be given right now."


End file.
